What’s newat Nicols

Nicols is renowned as a leader in innovation when it comes to the building of canal barges.

Always striving for improvement and embracing feedback from customers, Nicols continues to launch new models and technologies that revolutionise boating holidays and canal boat rentals.

The passionof innovation

A new canal boat launched every two years!

Since our beginnings back in 1986 the Nicols boatyard has produced over 600 boats.

Over time, new generations have been developed – after the first Marina and Riviera canal barge range came the Sedan range with the distinctive shaping of sea-going yachts and a rear terrace a living area that was all on one level. Then came the Confort range which was purposely designed for use by couples and groups of couples, before our newest and current Estivale range.

In total there are five ranges of boat available in 25 different models – all designed and built at the Nicols boatyard in France. On average that’s a new boat every two years.

Striving for the very best in boating

Today’s holidaymakers want to find the same levels of comfort and equipment onboard as they might find in a villa, hotel or at home! The Nicols boatyard consistently strives to provide customers with the best boating holiday accommodation possible with more features, technology and equipment than ever before.

Embracing customer feedback has also proved to be a successful way of developing new and exciting boats for the future. An excellent example of this is the new OCTO FLY C – the flagship of the Nicols fleet. Below you can read our story about how customer feedback was utilised to help create our best canal boat yet!

Nicols News

Octo Fly C

New for 2018: The flagship Octo Fly C canal boat is from Nicols’ Estivale range and at 15m in length is the largest boat in the Nicols fleet. Despite its size, thanks to double bow thrusters the Octo Fly C is easy to drive and moor up.

This stylish canal boat has four cabins with four bathrooms and offers the highest levels of comfort available in the boating holiday market. Crews will benefit from a large fridge, hob and oven, television with satellite antenna, radio/CD/MP3 player, 220 volts shore power connection and most impressively air conditioning, which is most appreciated in warmer destinations such as the Canal du Midi!

Sixto Green

New for 2018: In 2018, Nicols began investing in the future of electric energy – creating the Sixto Green – the first completely electric powered canal boat on the European waterways.

Fans of boating holidays more often than not love them due to the closeness to nature so this environmentally friendly option, with zero emissions and no pollution (including sound!), means that you can travel with peace of mind.

Sixto Prestige C

In 2017, our Nicols boatyard created the spacious Sixto Prestige C. No previous boating holiday experience is needed to drive it and crews experience the very highest levels of equipment and comfort available in the canal boat rental market.

You can only experience the style of the Sixto Prestige C from some of the Nicols bases – for canal boat holidays on the Canal du Midi, in the Camargue and in Alsace.

Nicols News

Our latest Nicolscanal boats

Discover the three most recent canal boats to leave the Nicols boatyard: The fully electric powered Sixto Green, flagship of the Nicols fleet the Octo Fly C, and the remarkable Sixto Prestige C.